The Phoenix Rises
by TheJadeDragon37
Summary: The Clestia Region home to a variety of different Pokémon. A young girl and her two cousins set out on their journey to meet new friends, collect the coveted eight Gym Badges, compete in Contests, and make their way to the Pokémon League. No area is safe from people trying to exploit the power of Pokémon. Rising out of the shadows an evil gang seeks one of the legendary birds.
1. Chapter 1

**(A/N): **You know what happens when your friend starts talking to you about the new Pokémon games and rekindles you love for them? This fic is what happens that's what. Can't say much for the update schedule for this fic but it'll be sparse until I finish either _Fire Emblem: Path to the Dawn _or _Bonds of the Heart. _

Also, Iris had her name LONG before I thought to do this fic. So you'll all just have to deal with the fact she shares the name of a canon character.

Chapter 1

Iris Fuco a girl of thirteen sat on her bed looking out of her window. It was morning still, the sun just rising and casting its light into the girl's room. The sun illuminated Iris' messy red hair giving it a more fiery look as it cascaded down her entire back. A sleepy blue eye and green eye looked down from the second floor window at the neighboring house. She had been told that another family was moving into the vacant house next door but she hadn't expected for it to be so _early_. The sound of the large moving truck backing up had acted like an alarm clocking waking Iris up at the break of dawn. Normally she woke up at a more reasonable time such as seven not five. She was a growing girl after all and she needed her sleep. Now that the truck had stopped and the beeping noise no longer sounding out through the air Iris' body wanted to go back to bed. However, Iris' mind was far more interested in who these new people were to let her body have its way.

Curled up on her bed, which was covered with green sheets that had a red floral design, was a brown furry mound of love named Eve. Eve was Iris' Eevee and even though both of Eve's parents lived in the house Iris had become the little Pokémon's mother. Not only was there an Eevee lying on her bed but one of its many evolutions was found on Iris' queen sized bed, her mom had gotten it for her ever since both Eve and Frosty had started sleeping with her. The Ice evolution known as Glaceon was sprawled out at the foot of the bed with a small amount of frost on the surrounding blanket. Iris' Glaceon had a far more childish name than Eve did. The name that a young three year old Iris had given the Fresh Snow Pokémon was Frosty. Both Pokémon has been able to sleep through the noise that had woken Iris up. Iris flopped down onto her bed the force causing Eve to perk its head up and yawn.

"Sorry Eve, didn't mean to wake you," Iris apologized when she heard the Pokémon's squeaky yawn. Eve stood up and stretched its legs before shaking and fluffing out its cream colored collar. Once she had woken up fully Eve walked over and started playfully licking Iris as punishment for waking her up. In retribution Iris picked Eve up holding her up above her like you would a small puppy. "Now what you going to do?" Iris teased. Eve's tail dropped, her ears drooped sadly, and her eyes got large. In other words Eve went into full on cute mode and no human is able to resist the sheer cuteness that an Eevee can display. Pulling Eve into a hug Iris giggled as she was again licked.

Now the giggling that started had woken up Frosty who much like Eve simply stood up and stretched herself awake. It was the middle of summer and even in the early morning the day promised to be a warm one. Able to control her own body temperature Frosty quickly chilled the air around herself as she adjusted to the rising temperature. Snowflakes fell from the air around Frosty landing on the bed before evaporating. Walking across the damp bed Frosty sat and looked down at Iris who still had Eve clutched to her chest. Iris wasn't able to notice Frosty's presence as her face was being blocked by a brown furred head. It wasn't long before Iris felt the cool touch of Frosty's fur rub against her cheek the Glaceon using the ribbons to tickle Iris.

"I didn't forget about you Frosty," Iris smiled as she brought one hand up to pat her Glaceon's head. Showing Frosty how much she cared for her Iris started to scratch the dark blue fur right above Frosty's eyes where her ribbons connected to the rest of her. It was Frosty's weakness and Iris loved exploiting it whenever Frosty felt that she was being left out.

Lying there on her bed with her two Pokémon Iris had almost completely forgotten about the new family moving in next door. That was until she heard the sounds of something shattering into a million pieces from outside. Sitting up quickly Iris looked back outside and saw one of the movers standing over a box. She could see the cardboard had crumpled a bit when it hit the ground and the side of the box had a growing wet spot on it. Whatever had broken inside must have held liquid of some sort though what that could be Iris had no idea. Another guy, who appeared to be one of the new neighbors, walked over to the mover and didn't seem too thrilled that the box had been dropped. The teenage guy was wearing an outfit that Iris could only describe as, colorful. He had on a dark blue open over-jacket with a green shirt and yellow gloves. His belt was golden, pants that looked dark green lead down to a pair of light blue boots contrasted with is dark legwear. Wrapped around his neck was a pink scarf, yup pink. Mane-like bright blonde hair was partly covered by a headband with a triangular design, the lower triangles dark magenta and the top ones yellow. On each side of the bandana was a curved golden feather.

More than curious about her new neighbors Iris leapt out of bed and changed out of her pajamas into a teal sundress. Putting on a pair of open toed brown sandals Iris picked Eve up and placed the Eevee on her shoulder, Eve's normal spot. Waving for Frosty to follow after her Iris opened the door and ran out into the hall. The two story house that Iris lived in was rather large. In fact it was so large that two families were able to live in it, which was the case. There were seven humans living in the house and a few of their Pokémon which gave the large structure a feeling of being small. Not to mention that half of the first floor was dedicated to her Uncle's laboratory. Solaris Adamas, the Clestia region's leading Pokémon Professor was her uncle. He studied the reasoning behind why some Pokémon only appeared in certain regions. Like why could you find Tentacool in the waters of every region but Unova. Come to find out schools of Basculin were keeping the Tentacools out. It's the one thing both red and blue Basculins agree on.

Running through the hall Iris headed downstairs with Frosty right behind her, Eve unfazed by the speed at which Iris was moving. Jumping the last three steps Iris headed into the kitchen knowing that her mom was awake and most likely there fixing up the day's batch of Pokémon food. When the two families had been looking for a home a large kitchen had been on everyone's list, we're talking industrial sized. Iris' mom was standing at the granite counter near a large mixing bowl, Iris could easily climb into it, tossing ingredients into the bowl. Rin was a beautiful woman with her dark blue hair pulled up into a high ponytail. Her skin remained pale no matter the amount of sun it got, amazingly she didn't get sunburned. While Rin may not have the most sought after figure, a little lacking in the chest area, she did have large hips and a gorgeous smile. Like Iris, Rin had on a sundress only hers was a deep crimson color. Over her dress Rin had on a white apron with the words "Out Of My Kitchen" written across the front in black. Sitting next to Rin was one of her many Grass Pokémon, Leafeon who happened to be Eve's mother. Even though Leafeon knew that she wasn't going to get any of the food before Rin was done cooking it didn't stop the Verdant Pokémon from trying to get a snack. Leafeon also doubled as a guard against any of the other Pokémon that might try to get a taste of Rin's cooking.

Much to Iris' surprise her cousin Ciro was in the kitchen too. Ciro had short blonde hair and golden eyes, an Adamas family trait that his twin sister Ceres lacked. Even at fifteen Ciro was lanky, not much meat to him and barely any muscle to speak of. Like most teenage guys he wore a simple t-shirt, dark green, and a pair of blue jeans. He had recently started to help Rin in the kitchen so he also had on an apron only minus the lettering. Cooking for seven people and around thirty Pokémon took a bit of effort and Rin was thankful for the help. Still it was odd to see Ciro in the kitchen because he hadn't learned the dietary habits of the resident Pokémon. This early he certainly wasn't helping prepare breakfast as most of the house didn't wake up for another hour and a half. Ciro was standing at the stove stirring a pot of something. Taking a whiff of the air Iris knew exactly what her cousin had in the pot, chocolate. For some reason Ciro was melting chocolate, now obvious by the fact that a bag of baking chocolate could be spotted on the counter by the stove.

Sliding up next to her cousin Iris and Eve looked at him with pleading eyes. Frosty wasn't going to be left out either, she sat next to Ciro and pawed at his leg begging for a taste of what he was cooking. Ciro's Kirlia was nowhere to be found at the moment so he was wide open to the pleas of Iris and her Pokémon. Doing his best to ignore the wide eyes and cold paw Ciro dropped another piece of the brown treat into the pot to let it melt.

"Girls," Rin said getting Iris' attention. Turning to face her mom Iris saw the rather large knife Rin had been using to chop of vegetables pointed at her now. "You leave Ciro alone, he's making some sweets for our new neighbors for when we go to greet them today."

"I thought that was tomorrow after they had gotten a chance to settle in," Iris said wondering what had prompted the change.

"Well your Uncle Sol and Aunt Luna are going to be gone longer than they thought. They called last night and told me their trip is going to take another week or so and to say 'Hi' on their behalf." Rin looked disappointed in her in-laws. Many times Sol and Luna went on trips for Sol's research, Luna going to help her husband deal with any problematic Pokémon they ran into. If their trip was going to take longer than two months they would take their children Ceres and Ciro with them but that hadn't been the case this last time.

"What do Uncle Sol and Aunty Luna have to do with it?" Iris asked not understanding the connection.

"They don't," Rin smiled teasing her curious daughter. "But your mother is coming home tomorrow and while I do love Mika, it's best to brace people before having them met her." Iris' mother was a bit of a loose cannon. In her younger years she had been a flirt and well, old habits die hard. Many times Mika still acted like a teenager rather than the leader of the police Special Forces. Not a lot of people were able to just accept Mika straight away and Rin had learned it that Mika had a better chance of coming off less crazy if people were warned first.

"Mother's coming home early!?" Iris shouted gleefully. As a member of the Special Forces Mika wasn't home as much as she wanted to be. This lead to Mika spending a lot of her time at home with Iris. They would head out into the surrounding forest and watch wild Pokémon run around. Marbledell wasn't a large bustling city so there wasn't much shopping or places to go within the town but the surrounding area was fun to explore and Iris was always up for heading out there with her mother.

"Don't get too excited Iris, she's not going to be able to stay long. A group of thieves has started appearing across Clestia and Mika is going to have a lot of work to do," Rin herself looked sad that her wife wasn't going to be home for long. While it was hard on Iris to not have one of her parents at home it was equally hard on Rin. Iris didn't ever learn the exact details of the missions that Mika was sent on but Rin did and she got to worry about her spouse while taking care of three kids.

"Hey Iris do me a favor will you?" Ciro asked sensing the darkening mood in the room. "Kirlia wasn't in my room when I woke up. I think she might be out in the yard but could you go check for me. Don't want her getting into any trouble. Mom didn't take Darmanitan or Houndoom with her this time. You know how crazy those two can get." Luna's Darmanitan was actually quite peaceful but Houndoom liked to pick a fight with the other Pokémon and could cause Darmanitan to become quite hostile. Without Sol's Bastiodon or Cloyster to bring the peace the two Fire types would easily lay waste to the yard.

"Alright!" Iris said cheerfully. "Hey Leafeon, wanna help me look for Kirlia?" Rin's Leafeon looked puzzled for a bit as it tried to decide which it rather do, beg for food that'd never come or walk around with Iris, Eve, and Frosty. Spending time with her daughter won out in the end and Leafeon stood opposite of Frosty. Together the three Pokémon and Iris went to head out.

"Iris!" Rin yelled calmly. "Brush your hair before heading out at least. You shouldn't go outside looking a mess." Iris ran over to the fridge, the stainless steel being the only reflective surface that she could get to at the moment. Noticing that her hair was still in tangles from sleep Iris blushed at her forgetfulness. Putting on a big smile for her mom she headed back upstairs and ran a brush through her hair after which she put her hair up in a ponytail like Rin. Only rather than using a ponytail holder, official term, she used a large red bow that matched her hair exactly.

Now ready to head outside Iris left through the backdoor. The yard behind the house wasn't exactly small. In fact it was quite large, large enough to easily house thirty Pokémon. Minus the size of the house which sat in the southeastern corner of the land. While it had taken some time there was a fence around the entire area preventing most wild Pokémon from getting in and some of the more aggressive Pokémon from getting out. Many of the Pokémon had set up areas that they considered _their _section of the yard. They didn't mind any of the humans passing through but some of them wouldn't stand it if another Pokémon came into their territory, Houndoom was one of these Pokémon. Heading over to a large map that displayed the current territories, yes they did change, Iris noticed that all of her Mom's Grass Pokémon were located near the house. Following after that was a mix of Mika and Sol's Pokémon with Luna's in the far back. Thinking about what she knew of Ciro's Kirlia, Iris figured that the Emotion Pokémon wouldn't stray too far from her trainer. That meant she was probably hanging around with Rin's Bellossom, both Pokémon enjoyed dancing. According to the map Bellossom's area was next to the fence and only Venusaur's territorystood between the house and Bellossom's.

"Well you three, you ready?" Iris asked the Pokémon she had with her. All three nodded their heads, Eve going so far as to lick Iris on the cheek.

The sun was still raising casting a pink light across the morning sky. Sounds from the movers next door broke the normal silence that morning brought in Marbledell. Doing her best to ignore the nagging sensation to go and talk with the new people Iris headed into the yard. Ever the mother to Eve Iris set the small Pokémon on the ground and let her follow on foot rather than getting a ride everywhere. At first Eve was mad that she had to walk but when Frosty and Leafeon walked by and smacked Eve with their tails any protest that Eve had been ready to mount was quickly gone. The area that Venusaur had claimed was nothing more than open field, perfect for lying around and soaking up the rays of the sun. In fact only a few minutes into Venusaur's territory they found the large Pokémon fast asleep with its large flower open and pointing in the direction of the sun. Venusaur had probably laid that way to that the flower would be able to greet the morning sun. The Seed Pokémon was smart like that. A sweet smelling fragrance washed off of Venusaur's flower and drifted over to Iris. Feeling a calm come over her Iris quickly moved away from Venusaur before she got too much of the Pokémon's perfume. In small doses it could be used to calm the mind but exposed to too much and you would start to feel light headed.

Once they had all gotten upwind of Venusaur they all took a deep breath of the fresh air. With clear heads Iris and her three companions kept walking. Using the wooden fence as a guide to head deeper into the yard Iris noticed that the lush grass wasn't the only thing growing. Soon flowers of various colors started to appear in tiny patches. The farther into the yard she went the more flowers that started to appear. Iris didn't know if it was her Mom's Bellossom or all of the species in general but Bellossom certainly enjoyed planting flowers. It was a little gardener with a literal green thumb. All of the vases in the house got their flowers from Bellossom's garden.

Standing in the middle of a large cluster of white lilies was Bellossom spinning and twirling in the sunlight. A soft music could be heard, the sounds of Bellossom's petals rubbing together giving the Flower Pokémon a tune to dance to. While Bellossom's dance was closer to something you might find on a tropical island, another Pokémon was dancing around the Grass type. Ciro's Kirlia was doing something that more resembled ballet. Both Pokémon were dancing to the tune created by Bellossom's petals. It was said that a Kirlia danced when its trainer was happy causing Iris to wonder if maybe Kirlia could feel Ciro's emotions all the way out here or if the Emotion Pokémon was practicing its routine. Whatever the reason for Kirlia's dancing, it was a sight to behold. Iris had stopped mid walk as she was entranced by the beauty of the two Pokémon. Kirlia seemed to sense the presence of her spectators and instantly ceased her dancing hiding her face, though Bellossom kept busting a move.

"Don't stop Kirlia!" Iris begged the Psychic type Pokémon. "You looked really good doing it, I'm sure that Ciro will love it." Kirlia poked its head to from behind her hands as if to ask if what Iris was saying was true. "Of course he will Kirlia, how can he not love it? You came out here to practice with Bellossom didn't you?" Kirlia nodded her head in confirmation seeming to start calming down after having been spotted practicing her new moves. "Ciro's lucky to have a Pokémon that cares so much." The way that Kirlia turned her head and looked down at the ground was like she was blushing at such a compliment.

Sadly Iris wasn't able to reassure the small Pokémon anymore for they were interrupted by large black dog with a skull theme and large horns on its head. Ciro's earlier worry that his mother's Houndoom might cause some problems was not completely justified. From the growling that the Houndoom was doing it didn't come to watch Bellossom and Kirlia dance the morning away. Bellossom finally stopped her dancing, the music stopping along with it, and placed her hands on the top of her skirt much like humans place their hands on their hips. Bellossom had been spending way too much of her time with Rin, she had adopted many of the things Rin did when mad. Flames licked Houndoom's jaw as he prepared to unleash a Flamethrower attack. Before the attack was launched Kirlia grabbed Bellossom and used Teleport to move out of range of the fire.

"Oh boy," Iris groaned as she saw Houndoom run towards them with more fire in its mouth. Houndoom had the nasty habit of only listening to Luna and no matter what he would ignore the orders of the others. Iris looked at each of the Pokémon she had with her and let out another groan. Two Grass, one Ice, and one Psychic Pokémon against a Dark and Fire type Pokémon, she couldn't count on Eve since she hadn't been in a fight yet. No matter who she had fight Houndoom, they would be on the weaker side of the battle. "Alright, Leafeon use Sunny Day!" Iris ordered. The Grass Pokémon looked at her in confusion but obeyed nevertheless. Even in with the sun barely in the sky the effects of Sunny Day could be felt as it amplified the heat and light. With Sunny Day in effect the flames in Houndoom's mouth grew larger. "Okay now Bellossom use Solar Beam, you too Leafeon." Bellossom's flowers started to glow with gold energy as Leafeon gathered the sunlight in front of it. In no time at all the two Pokémon had gathered enough sunlight to fire off the powerful Grass move. Two beams of golden energy shot from the Grass types and slammed into Houndoom creating a large explosion upon contact.

Cheering in what she thought was victory Iris' celebration was cut short as flames shot out of the smoke and slammed into Leafeon. The Sunny Day powered Flamethrower knocked Leafeon down to the ground, any chance of a Burn negated by Leafeon's Leaf Guard ability. Getting up Leafeon swung swung around and sent out a barrage of Razor Leaf from its tail. The flowers on Bellossom's head started to spin and a golden powder wafted from them in the direction of Houndoom. When the Stun Spore hit Houndoom he was stopped in his tracks taking the full force of Leafeon's Razor Leaf attack. Leafeon run and leapt into the air, its tail starting to glow green. Spinning in midair Leafeon brought its tail down hard on Houndoom's back with Leaf Blade causing one of the bone-like pieces on Houndoom's back to crack. Showing no mercy the petal skirt of Bellossom swayed back and forth before picking up enough momentum to swirl around completely. The normal green and yellow leaves turned white before Bellossom unleashed its Petal Storm attack on Houndoom. Lying down flat on its back was a knocked out Houndoom, even it hadn't been able to withstand the brute force the two Grass Pokémon had unleashed on it.

"Wow. Mom's Pokémon are good," Iris said as Bellossom walked over to check on Leafeon. Wishing that she at least brought an Oran Berry along Iris walked over to Leafeon and started gently petting to show her appreciation. "Let's head back home Leafeon, I'm sure Mom's got some of the food ready. If not I'll find you something. Oh! Kirlia you should head back home soon too if you aren't done. Ciro was worried but I'm sure he'll understand if you want to stay out here for a bit longer." Iris stood up and looked over at the fainted Houndoom trying to figure out what to do with the Pokémon. Even if she could manage to drag it back to the house it would do nothing but cause trouble without Luna there to calm it. Figuring that once it woke back up Houndoom would either come to the house or head back to its territory to lick its wounds Iris waved goodbye to Bellossom and Kirlia.

Once more using the fence as a guide Iris headed back to the house. Like before they saw Rin's Venusaur basking in the sunlight. Only this time there was something sitting on top of the flower. It looked to be a gold sphere with clouds on it. To be a bit more precise it was gold in color with two long feathers on top of its head and two long tail feathers. It had a round white beak and the clouds looked like they might double as wings. Whatever the thing was, it was hopping around the back of Venusaur and scrubbing the flower with its clouds. Venusaur either didn't notice the thing or it just didn't care, Iris' money was on the former. Funny thing was that wherever the cloud-thing swabbed, they flower seemed to shine brighter. After a bit of cleaning the, what Iris assumed to be a Pokémon of some sorts, started to preen its clouds.

"Nimbus!" a voice called out through the air. Turning her head around to face the sound of the voice so quickly that Iris almost gave herself whiplash she spotted two girls running towards the fence. One girl had pale brown hair that fell down to her waist, it was so pale that Iris wondered if it might be blonde. The girl was close enough that Iris could make out her eye color, a nice violet. She wore a white dress and pair of sandals. While not the best at guessing ages Iris though the girl looked to be about the same age as her. The other girl though was clearly older, as evident by certain assets. To put it nicely the older girl had a body that most women envy, even Iris envied it and she was only thirteen. The older girl hard green hair pulled into a ponytail with a violet and floral patterned ribbon. Like the younger girl her eyes were colored violet. She had on an eye-catching red trench, who wears a coat in this heat? The sleeves of the coat were rolled halfway up her arms to cut down on some of the heat at least. Under her open coat she wore a white shirt with golden borders that covered everything up to her chest where it showed off what Tina had to offer. Her trousers were a simple white that led down to a pair of red boots.

Slightly scared of new people Eve leapt up onto Iris' shoulder claiming the safety she offered. Iris looked at the cloud Pokémon to see it raise its head and look at the approaching girls. Chirping with joy the thing took flight, the clouds _were _indeed wings, and it flew over to the younger girl. Without so much as a second thought the bird landed on the young girl's head and started to clean its wings some more. Having never seen these people, or that Pokémon, Iris ran over to the fence to introduce herself to what she assumed were her new neighbors. Frosty and Leafeon followed after the young girl ready to protect their friend should anything happen. All three girls reached the fence around the same time and Iris put on a big smile to greet the two new people.

"Hi I'm Iris," she said holding out her hand. The other two girls accepted the offer and shook her hand.

"I'm Tina and this is my younger sister Priscilla," the older, more beautiful girl, gave the introductions. The younger one seemed to be a bit shy and even her Pokémon had curled up and looked like nothing more than a lump of cottony clouds sitting atop of Priscilla's head.

"Nice to meet you both. If you don't mind me asking, what's that on your head?" Iris pointed to the ball of cotton.

"That's Nimbus my Swablu," Priscilla answered plucking the Pokémon off of her head and holding it close to her chest. Nimbus poked its head out from underneath its wings having gained some courage once Priscilla started talking. "I'm so sorry for Nimbus barring into your yard like that."

"Uncle Sol told me that Swablu are supposed to be well, blue." Iris stared intensely at the off colored Pokémon in wonder, for her it didn't matter that the Pokémon had gotten out and invaded the yard. Iris was far more concerned about what was up with the Swablu. She didn't know that Pokémon came in different colors than the ones her family had told her about. Swablu wasn't a Pokémon native to the Clestia region so Iris had never seen a normal colored Swablu to begin with.

"That's because Nimbus is what people call a Shiny Pokémon," Tina explained while Priscilla hugged her Shiny Swablu closer to her. "They're pretty rare."

"Oh that's neat." Iris looked over at Eve sitting on her shoulder. "Wonder what you'd look like as a Shiny Pokémon Eve." Eve tilted her head in curiosity at Iris' statement.

"Um… you're Eevee is really cute. Do you mind if I pet it?" Priscilla asked with pleading eyes. Before Iris could answer Eve leapt off of her shoulder and down onto the fence in front of the new person. Apparently all Eve needed to hear in order to get over its slight fear was that she was cute. Priscilla scratched under Eve's chin which made Eve's fluffy tail flick back and forth in joy. Swablu chirped in annoyance that another Pokémon was getting attention and fluttered down to stand next to Eve. Neither Leafeon nor Frosty had seen a Swablu and both stood up on their hind legs to get a better view of the new creature. Suddenly surrounded by new Pokémon Swablu fluttered its wings in fear.

"Leafeon, Frosty, leave Nimbus alone," Iris scolded the two Pokémon. "Honestly Leafeon Mom taught you better than to scare new friends. Frosty you should know better too, you're old enough." Both Eeveelutions dropped down onto all fours and settled with looking at the new Pokémon.

"Are both of those your Pokémon?" Tina asked looking at the two now sitting on the ground.

"Frosty is mine, had her since I was three. Leafeon is Mom's Pokémon though. The Venusaur over there," Iris turned and pointed to the lying Pokémon, "is also Mom's. She has a lot of Grass types. So you two are the new neighbors right?"

"Yeah," Tina answered though she didn't seem to be too pleased with the fact. She even went so far as to cross her arms and huff in disgust. It didn't take a genius to see that Tina wasn't happy about the recent move. Moving to a new town and losing all your old friends would do that to most anyone.

"Hey if you two aren't doing anything you should come over and meet my cousins." Iris put on a large smile as she invited the two over. "You can bring Nimbus too. After sitting on Venusaur's flower like that you might want to have it checked out it could have accidentally gotten some Stun Spore or Poison Powder on its wings. Mom will have something to fix Nimbus up if something happens." Priscilla's face had gone from a happy smile to a worried frown as Iris had spoke. Mad at herself for not realizing that Nimbus might be in danger sooner Iris plucked Eve off the fence and place her back on her spot. Doing her best to look calm Iris watched the Swablu carefully.

"I think we'll take you up on that offer," Tina said looking at her sister's pale expression and Iris' worried one. There was no way that any of the wanted harm to befall the Cotton Bird Pokémon. Iris knew for a fact that touching Venusaur's flower could have some nasty effects if you weren't wearing gloves. Nimbus had been all over the flower and even picked at its wings after rubbing them on the flower.

Tina and Priscilla hopped the fence and they all ran towards the house even though Swablu seemed to be doing just fine. In small doses the effects of any powder could take some time to cause an effect. By the time they reached the backdoor Nimbus had started to look a little pale and even sneezed twice. Tina and Priscilla followed after Iris as she wove through the maze of a house towards the kitchen where she had last seen her mom. Thankfully Rin was still there, Ciro to but he wasn't exactly of importance at the moment.

"Mom, Priscilla's Swablu sat on Venusaur's flower!" Iris cried out as she entered the room.

"Ciro, run into your father's lab and grab me a pair of gloves, two beakers, and a pair of tweezers," Rin commanded without missing a beat. Rin didn't even ask which girl was which or why the Swablu had been sitting on her Venusaur in the first place. Taking her current gloves off along with her apron Rin washed her hands in the sink before she instructed Priscilla to set Nimbus on a far counter, away from where Rin and Ciro had been cooking. Popping open the fridge Rin took out a bottle of pink liquid with a label showing three purple spheres on it.

"What's that?" Tina asked questioning Rin about the bottle.

"Pecha Juice," Rin answered pouring the contents into another bottle to which she screwed on a lid with a spout. Without hesitation popped the spout into Nimbus' beak and let the Pokémon suck down the liquid. "There's a bit of Oran Juice in here too, it'll help Swablu get back on its feet faster."

"Thank you, uh..." Priscilla said before she realized that she didn't know Rin's name.

"It's Rin sweetie," Rin said as she took the bottle away from Nimbus. The bird Pokémon looked a bit better after having drunk the juice but it still didn't have the normal gold shine that it did before. Apparently though it felt well enough to try and preen its wings again only to have Rin grab it by the beak and stop it from doing so. "Don't need you getting it back into your system now. You should probably have a glass of Pecha Juice yourself Priscilla, the poison is the thing to worry about. Venus' Stun Spore might leave you feeling a little groggy but there's nothing to worry about." Iris ran over to a grabbed a cup out of the cupboard and filled it halfway with Pecha Juice to hand to Priscilla.

With perfect timing Ciro came running back in with the supplies Rin asked for. Putting on a pair of yellow rubber gloves Rin set the two beakers on either side of Nimbus and held the tweezers in her right hand ready to get to work. What work that was, no one other than Rin knew until she pulled some cotton off of Nimbus. A squawking "Blu!"echoed throughout the room as Rin pulled the clump of white off. Taking a closer look some of the cotton had turned a dark purple color from having absorbed Venusaur's Poison Powder. Depositing the poisoned cotton in one of the beakers Rin set to work carefully pulling out any cotton that had turned yellow or purple and putting the different colors into their own beaker. After a few minutes of going over the wings and making sure that Nimbus didn't try to pick itself clean Rin took the Pokémon over to the sink and washed its wings to help get rid of any remaining powder.

"Well I planned to come over and say 'Hello' to your parents later but I think now's a good time," Rin said with a smile holding Nimbus out to Priscilla.

**(A/N): **Tina and Priscilla belong to The Unknowing Herald while the others are mine.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A woman walked down the road with nothing but the stars in the clear sky for light, not even the moon hung in the sky to offer its pale light. The woman had short blonde hair though you could only see a little bit sticking out from underneath her black hat. Grey edges lined the hat and a same color Poké Ball symbol graced the front. This woman was tall, easily passing six feet in height. Her outfit consisted of a black shirt and coat with the black the main color and more grey lining, a pocket sat on either side of the coat's zipper. Even under the dark clothing with almost no lighting you could make out the curve of her chest. The black pants she wore had two vertical stripes running down the sides. Even her boots which went halfway up her leg had the stripes making it hard to tell where pants ended and boots began. There was only one bit of color on her entire outfit and it sat on her left arm. A deep yellow, almost gold, band stretched from her wrist halfway up her forearm. Normally it would have been hidden by her coat sleeves but they were rolled up past her elbow. Starlight was reflected in gold eyes as the woman walked down the dirt road.

Stopping in her tracks the woman looked around her worriedly. Creeping up behind her was a dark blob, not even the stars able to shed any light on what was approaching her. Right as the dark shape got behind her yellow rings glowed across its body. Sidestepping to her left the woman looked down at the Umbreon that had tried to attack her.

"Really Umbreon the light gives you away. You got to learn to pounce without glowing," Mika said as she kneeled down and patted her Pokémon on the head. Umbreon had on what could only be called a very grumpy face. Standing up Mika took another look at the sky, the stars were starting to fade, and dawn would soon be here. "If we want to surprise Rin and Iris we gotta get a move on." Umbreon's ears twitched upon hearing Iris' name. "Don't even start with me mister, she loves you and you know it. If you keep picking on Frosty Iris will stop feeding you those treats behind my back."

Letting her Umbreon sit there and ponder her words Mika started back down the road at a brisk pace. She had called earlier and told Rin that she'd be home day after tomorrow, well tomorrow actually since it was morning, but that had been a lie. By the time she had called Rin she had already been on her way home and knew that if she walked fast enough she could make it by morning. Nighttime though was the perfect time to train Umbreon to better stalk targets. No one knew Umbreon's tricks better than Mika so she was always able to spot him even before his yellow circles flared to life. If she could spot him then there was the chance that the target would be able to. Training Umbreon had come around to bite her in the butt though as the sun peaked over the horizon.

"Move your butt Umbreon!" Mika shouted as she started to run. While she was technically already a day early Mika didn't want to waste any more time on the road than she had to. Not to mention the fact that more than a few Vespiquen and Combee colonies woke up and started their daily search for honey with the sunrise. A single Combee wasn't a problem, the little things rather run than fight. When you came across a Vespiquen is when things started to get worrisome. The Combee turned violent and a hundred or so of them is a pain to deal with. Mika had also learned that you don't get between a Combee and honey at a young age.

Jogging down the road at a steady pace Mika and her Umbreon headed towards their hometown to surprise their family. Arriving at the break of dawn had been the plan but the sun had already started to cast its rays over the Clestia region and so now Mika just wanted to get home. It had been a few weeks since she had last been home. A new group of thugs had started to appear all over the region and kept her from heading home. Unlike reports of teams that had appeared all over the world a few years back, this group didn't wear any weird costumes. Instead this team just seemed to have a single golden feather symbol stitched on their clothing. The symbol could be anywhere on them making it hard to spot. So far Mika had seen the symbol on a tie, shoe, the backseat of a pair of pants, and on the sleeve of a coat. Most common was the coat sleeve but that didn't mean all of the members had it there. What really made them stand out was when they sent out a Pokémon. On each of their Pokémon was a white cloth bearing the same feather symbol as their human partners.

The amount of crime this group had been committing had forced the Clestia Special Forces into action. So far they hadn't been able to figure out what the group was up to or even what they were called. As of now they were simply called The Golden Feather until they were able to gather more information on the new crime organization. The Golden Feather never stole anything of vast importance it was just all normal robberies, jewelry and that type of expensive junk. On such a vast scale though it was worrying, what could they be doing that needed such funding?

-o-O-o-

Ciro followed after his Aunt Rin as she led the new neighbors out of the house. When he woke up today he certainly hadn't thought that he would be meeting two lovely girls, Ciro thanked Arceus that he had bothered to change out of his PJs before coming downstairs. Priscilla was a cute girl, but that's just it, she was a _cute _girl. Tina on the other hand was a drop dead gorgeous bombshell of a girl and Ciro wasn't going to deny to himself that he found her attractive. Iris and her Pokémon were walking with Priscilla, Eve perched on his spot looking down at the Swablu in the new girl's arms. Seeing Iris' Pokémon and the Swablu crisis now averted Ciro began to wonder if Iris had managed to find his Kirlia in the yard or not. Questioning his cousin about it he got confirmation that Kirlia was out with Rin's Bellossom but Iris couldn't tell him what she was doing out there.

Once outside Ciro put his hand up to block the light of the rising sun. Heading after the girls Ciro felt something brush up against his mind. Turning and looking towards the backyard Ciro spotted his Kirlia standing next to the fence with her head cocked to the side in question.

_**Master what is the matter? **_The Emotion Pokémon asked psychically. _**I could feel your distress far out into the yard.**_

_**I've told you before Kirlia, call me Ciro. Nothing's wrong now, a Swablu landed on Rin's Venusaur and we're just heading over to greet the new neighbors. You want to come with us? **_Ciro responded to his Pokémon in less than a second. Communicating with thought was far faster than anyone could achieve with verbal speaking. Ever since Kirlia had evolved from Ralts she had taken to talking with Ciro using her telepathy.

_**I would enjoy that but this fence is in my way. **_Kirlia replied as she tapped the object that prevented her from coming with.

_**That's why I asked. **_Jogging over to the fence Ciro reached over and grabbed Kirlia at the waist easily lifting her light body over the obstacle. _**And look, you're free.**_ Ciro joked as he placed her on the ground.

_**Humorous. **_Kirlia started to walk alongside Ciro as they went and rejoined the group heading over to Tina's house.

It wasn't that long of a walk between the two houses, only a couple of dozen yards. A lot can happen in that short amount of time though. Take for instance a certain someone coming up from behind you and putting their hands over your eyes completely cutting off you vision. Ciro panicked not knowing what was going on until he heard the mental giggling of Kirlia in his head. Calming down Ciro took a deep breath and rammed his elbow back into the belly of the person behind him. A soft grunt later and Ciro had his vision restored.

"Really Aunt Mika," Ciro said with a chuckle, "you'd think you come up with better ways to get me by now."

Mika, who was currently rubbing her gut, let out a small laugh. "Please, if it wasn't for Kirlia it would have worked." Standing next to Mika was her ever faithful Umbreon, father of Iris' Eevee. Umbreon sat next to Mika and rolled its eyes as if to say that Mika should have seen her injury coming. Of course the second that Mika's voice had cut through the air, a certain little girl had turned around to see the blonde woman.

"MOTHER!" Iris yelled happily as she tackled her mother to the ground with glee. Sadly Eve wasn't able to cling to Iris as she fell to the ground. The little Evolution Pokémon got to experience the joy of flight before landing on Ciro's head. Ciro was no scientist, but he knew that the law of physics wouldn't allow Eve to be sent backwards to land _perfectly _atop his head. Kirlia looked up a Ciro with a happy expression on her face. Her reflexes were good for a Pokémon that rarely battled.

"Good to see ya Squirt," Mika said as she hugged her daughter.

"Mother," Iris whined as she pulled back to look Mika in the eyes with mock anger. Being the smallest of both families Iris had been dubbed Squirt by her mother, only Mika still used it. Iris got back up and let Mika stand before she hugged her mother again. Ciro smiled as his cousin and aunt were reunited. Mika was gone often and while Iris still had Rin and seemed as happy as could be on a normal day, when Mika was home Iris was just ten times more excited. With his both his parents gone Ciro could sympathize with the feeling of missing your parent.

Rin had let her daughter attack Mika before she came over and gave her wife a welcome home hug followed by a quick kiss. Ciro looked back at the two girls they had been accompanying home. Both girls were standing there not really looking at the small family reunion that was going on. Neither girl knew what was going on exactly and why Mika coming home was such a big deal, not to mention the fact they probably put two and two together about Rin and Mika. While Ciro was used to the fact he had two aunts he knew that other people weren't so respectful of such a relationship. He hoped that the new neighbors wouldn't care about his aunts.

Ciro was about to turn back to his aunts and cousin when a brown paw fell in front of his face. Eve was still sitting on his head and was making her presence known. Picking Eve up and holding her out in front of him Ciro refused to look into the Eevee's eyes. It had MASTERED the Baby-Doll Eyes move to perfection, to the point where it was almost constantly doing them. Anyone who looked into the eyes of Eve would immediately feel affection for the brown furred Pokémon. Most of members of the Adamas family had become immune to the power but Ciro just couldn't help but give in to the large pleading eyes.

"Ev vee ev," Eve said happily as she wagged her tail. Ciro made the mistake of looking down into a pair of large brown eyes.

_**Ciro you know what happens next don't you? **_Kirlia commented knowing exactly what was going to happen next. There was no preventing it though. Ciro hugged Eve close like a teddy bear and started rubbing her ears. It wasn't exactly the manliest thing in the world to be doing. In fact if this was an anime there would be a pink background with red hearts all over it. _**Every time that little furball is able to get you. If you keep falling for such a low tactic how are you ever going to raise other Pokémon?**_

_**Shush Kirlia. Eve is downright adorable and even you can't ignore its Baby-Doll Eyes. **_Ciro tried to make the counterpoint but it was of no use.

_**It is because I share a psychic link with you. Your Pokédex has explained that all of my species share a strong bond with our trainers. Your emotions influence me and that causes me to give in, just like you would. **_Kirlia sounded a little cheesed but when it came to Eve, the house's attention Pokémon, she had a small rivalry. It wasn't that she didn't like Eve or anything, just the power that the Eevee had over Ciro annoyed her to no end.

_**Yeah, yeah, yeah. **_Ciro did the mental equivalent of a hand waving dismissively since both physical hands were currently occupied. Holding Eve close to him Ciro decided that he should head over to his new neighbors in an attempt to make them not feel so out of place. Taking a deep breath before doing so he made his way over to the two girls.

_**Is she really that attractive? **_Kirlia commented as Ciro's emotions poured through their link.

_**I'm a teenage guy, yeah she is.**_ Ciro defended. _**Besides you know I have problems talking with cute girls. This girl Tina is a bit more than just cute**_.

_**Your sister is right you know, you really should get out more often. **_Kirlia followed next to Ciro with a serene expression. She looked directly at the topic of their conversation as she did so. Ciro was glad that the mental conversation couldn't be picked up by others. Living with another Kirlia in the house, his sister Ceres', had forced them to learn how to block others from randomly "hearing" them. Once you had a connection made your mind opened to hear the unblocked conversations of others.

"Hello," Ciro said waving to both Tina and Priscilla as best he could without dropping Eve. "I didn't really get the chance to introduce myself earlier, my name's Ciro." Kirlia gently nudged Ciro prompting him to introduce her. "And this is my partner Kirlia. I apologize in advance if I suddenly go quiet, Kirlia likes to give running commentary on conversations."

_**I do not. **_Kirlia replied, offended that Ciro had said such a thing. She went so far as to cross her arms and look away in disgust.

"Seems like she didn't like you saying that about her." Tina looked at Kirlia as she spoke.

"Yeah I really shouldn't have started out with her worst quality," Ciro chuckled awkwardly. "Didn't want to come off as rude but seems like that tanked."

_**Pathetic. Grow a backbone. You were right to say such a thing about me to strangers. They would need to know that you might possibly be having another conversation with me while they talked with you. **_Kirlia stepped forward and curtseyed as her way of saying hello to Tina and Priscilla. _**Please tell them that I won't be commenting to you on the conversation, you may converse in peace. **_While Kirlia has talked to Ciro he had turned his attention to her and nodded in understanding at her request.

"So what's going on there?" Tina asked guessing that the two had just spoken to each other. Ciro relayed Kirlia's request. "I see, good to know the peanut gallery won't be saying anything. But since we're doing proper introductions, I'm Tina."

"I'm Priscilla," the younger sister said with a shy smile, "and you already know Nimbus." Priscilla lifted her golden Swablu off her head careful not to get her hands on the wings just in case there was any residual powder left. Nimbus still looked a little out of it from the effects of the poison and stun spore but for the most part it was still alert and happy to be picked up.

"Not sure if Iris told you before but, Swablu's are rare around here. Only ones in the Clestia region are ones that belong to trainers. This region is just too warm for them to stay." Having a father that constantly talked about such things had made the entire household pretty knowledgeable about why some Pokémon weren't found in the Clestia region. "Seeing a golden Swablu here is incredible."

"Nimbus is special; she was a gift from Poppa and Nana." Priscilla scratched Nimbus under the chin. Nimbus tweeted in joy at the attention that she was getting.

"Vee ee vee," Eve spouted out as she listened to Nimbus.

_**Uh Kirlia, a little help with the translation here please. **_Ciro pleaded not sure what was going on with his cousin's Pokémon.

_**She wants Priscilla to pay attention to her. Something about the girl intrigues Eve. I must say that even I feel an odd pull towards the girl. She radiates kindness. **_Kirlia explained. The sincerity in Kirlia's voice made Ciro wonder about Priscilla, for her to have such a dramatic effect on both Eve and Kirlia the girl had to be something special.

"Eve stop fussing so much," Iris said as she came up behind Ciro and plucked her Pokémon out of Ciro's ars. Eve completely forgot about Priscilla now that she once again had Iris. There was no competing with Iris in Eve's mind, it came from Iris helping raise Eve from birth. Petting Eve on her cream colored collar Iris calmed Eve down in a matter of seconds.

"Sorry about that girls," Rin apologized as both her and Mika appeared next to Iris. Rin had her arm linked with Mika's looking every bit the happy wife. Even Leafeon and Umbreon stood next to one another like the couple the pretended not to be. "Shall we get going then?" Rin smiled as she started walking towards the newly occupied house, not waiting for an answer from the younger generation.

Everyone followed after Rin and Mika without so much as a word. When they got closer to the house Ciro could hear a loud noise coming from behind the structure. Walking a bit to the left he was able to peer into the yard, almost equal in size to his own house's yard, to see about a dozen Excadrills digging. It was hard to get an exact count as they kept jumping down into the hole and back out as they widened it. Gathered nearby were a few Politoeds and other water Pokémon, far too many to belong to a single household. Every single one of the Politoeds wore black jackets with a rain cloud in a yellow circle on the back. Ciro couldn't figure out what the Pokémon were going to be doing with the hole once it was complete but they sure were digging a large one.

The house soon blocked Ciro's view of the yard and he was left to wonder what the going on back there. While the family moving in was new, the house had been sitting empty for a few years now. Its white walls and brown tiled roof were something that Ciro had seen all of his life. A wraparound porch had stairs in both the front and back and was wide enough to comfortably fit two people. The previous owners had even been nice enough to leave their old porch swing, which was located next to the door.

Mika and Rin headed up the steps to the door and that's when Ciro noticed his aunt smile mischievously. Rin must not have noticed Mika's smile as the blonde haired woman knocked on the door because if she had noticed there was no way that she would have let Mika been the one to answer the door. The four kids and Pokémon stood behind the two adults as they waited for someone to answer the door. Before Ciro could reach Rin, the door opened up to reveal a woman with blonde hair and violet eyes. A pink flower was tucked behind her ear, the common enough Gracidea flower. She had on a red sleeveless shirt showing off her slender arms. A white knee-length skirt covered her legs, red heeled boots covering what the skirt didn't. A soft smile was on her face as she looked out at the large group on her porch. It wasn't hard to guess that this woman was the mother of Tina and Priscilla.

"Excuse me ma'am, I caught these kids trying to sneak into this woman's house," Mika said pointing to Rin. Her serious tone and the fact she was still in her officer's uniform would make most people believe Mika, her family wasn't fooled. The same couldn't be said for Tina and Priscilla's mother.

"Tina I expected better of you, and to drag your sister into this," the woman said sadly as she looked at her older daughter. You could actually see the disappointment in the woman's eyes. It was a little heartbreaking.

"Moth-er!"

"Mi-ka!"

Both Iris and Rin yelled at the Special Forces Officer in perfect unison. Despite Iris being adopted, there was no arguing that she was Rin's child, her mannerisms were too similar. Mika looked down at both her wife and daughter and chuckled sheepishly.

"Don't listen to her," Rin said to the woman subtly moving Mika way from the door. "Your kids didn't do any such thing. Priscilla's Swablu landed on my Venusaur's flower and got some Poison Powder and Stun Spore on its wings. My daughter Iris brought them inside so I could treat Nimbus."

"Thank you," the woman said to Rin before looking at Priscilla. "Pris I told you that you need to look after Nimbus better."

"Sorry Mama," Priscilla apologized.

"There was no harm done at least," Priscilla's mother said happily. Then as if she had just realized something the woman looked at Rin. "I'm sorry, my name's Terra and you've met my two daughters already."

"Nice to meetcha," Mika said making herself known once more. "Name's Mika, this lovely woman you've been talking to is my wife Rin." Terra seemed to blink as her mind registered what Mika had said but other than that there was no other acknowledgement. "The red-haired Squirt is our daughter Iris with Eve in her arms. The guy in the back with the Kirlia is my nephew Ciro." Everyone waved as they were introduced to Terra.

"Would you guys like to come in?" Terra asked. Before anyone could answer a azure and white blur came speeding through the hall leading to the door. It stopped right on Terra's shoulder. It took everyone not used to random flying Pokémon to realize what they were seeing. Standing on Terra's shoulder was a small white reindeer with a azure mohawk and red flower petals that resembled a scarf. It was the legendary Gratitude Pokémon Shaymin, in Sky Forme. While Rin, Mika and Ciro stared at the rare Pokémon, Iris took a different approach. Walking up to get closer Iris went to reach out and pet Shaymin.

"If you can get right under the chin that'd be great," the Shaymin told Iris. At first this didn't faze anyone as a legendary Pokémon communicating with people wasn't that out of place. Only when they realized that the Shaymin had _spoken _the words and hadn't used any sort of mental communication did they stare at him mouths agape. That was out of place even for a legendary Pokémon.

Silence blanketed the porch.

"Mog, you really shouldn't surprise people like that," Terra scolded the small reindeer.

"Sorry," Mog apologized before jumping down to the ground. That proved to be a mistake on Mog's part. While he was up on Terra's shoulder he had been far away from the ground bound Eeveelutions. Now that they could get to him Frosty, Leafeon, and Umbreon closed in on the Shaymin. None of them meant him harm in any way, they just wanted to get a better look at him like anyone would. Having three unknown Pokémon suddenly crowding you, two that were three times your height, would make most nervous and even Sky Forme Shaymin was a little weary. Frosty reached out her ice cold paw and tapped Mog on the head. The sheer cold of Frosty's paw was enough to force Mog out of his Sky Forme. Glowing a bright white Mog reverted to his Land Forme which resembled a hedgehog with flowers on either side of his head.

The light of Mog's transformation had gotten everyone's attention, just as they had stopped being stunned by the _talking _Pokémon. Now in Land Forme Mog was more shy than brave, a Shaymin's personality switched with its form. While Sky Mog was brave enough to let three Eeveelutions check him out, Land Mog was not so brave. Curling up as best he could Mog tried to hide and employed the I-can't-see-you-so-you-can't-see-me tactic.

"Oh Mog," Terra sighed as she reached down and picked the grass covered hedgehog up. When Mog nuzzled up against Terra it touched the flower tucked behind Terra's ear and changed back into its Sky Forme. The confused looks that she was getting prompted Terra to explain what had just happened. "A Shaymin can't stay in Sky Forme in cold weather or at night. I didn't think a Glaceon's touch would be cold enough to cause the transformation."

"Hado, can you get that box for me?" a male voice asked from inside the house. Not long after the speaker finished the sounds of a box being lifted up off the floor could be heard. "That one goes to Tina's room."

"Dad's letting Hado move my stuff?! That hyperactive Lucario is going to break _something_." Tina exclaimed clearly worried about her belongings. A bit rudely, but not without reason, Tina made her way into the house to go save her, whatever it was, that Hado was moving.

"Well Maddie should have a few drinks ready if you would still like to come in," Terra offered.

"We'd be delighted," Rin smiled. Then she looked at the collection of Pokémon. "If you want we can send them back home, don't want to impose." Umbreon, Leafeon, and Frosty all looked at each other knowing that they would probably be the three to be sent home. Kirlia and Eve took up less room than they did. Together all three Eeveelutions looked up at Terra with big eyes, while it wasn't an official move, combined it came close to Charm.

"It's not a problem at all. We have most of the dining room set up and there's plenty of room there." Terra turned around and walked into the house. Priscilla walked in after her mother with Nimbus seemingly asleep on her head. Following after the two Ciro and his family headed in. After years of seeing the outside of the house Ciro had wondered what the inside looked like. Bare white walls and halls filled with boxes was the only thing that greeted his curiosity. It was to be expected since they were still in the progress of unpacking everything.

They went into the second door on the right, next to a set of stairs. A large table sat in the middle of the room with ten chairs littered around it. Three of the chairs had large boxes sitting in them with the word "kitchen" written across them. A large cabinet with glass doors sat up against the far wall, its insides bare, waiting to be filled. Hanging from the ceiling was small simple glass chandelier giving light to the room. Off on the right hand wall, the wall closest to the door leading outside, was another door leading to what was presumably the kitchen. Clunking sound like pots and pans banging against each other could be heard from the other room.

Terra took a seat next to the head of the table and Priscilla took the spot next to her. Never one to be shy Iris sat down next to Priscilla, setting Eve on her lap Iris started talking with Priscilla about her Swablu and how soft the wings must be. The chair next to Iris was taken by a box leaving Ciro and his two Aunts to head to the other side of the table where there were another three open chairs. Kirlia jumped up into the open chair next to Ciro and sat crosslegged.

_**Miss Terra your drinks are ready. **_Ciro heard the mental communication go through his mind. From the look on Iris' face he wasn't the only one to have heard the voice. Coming out of the kitchen was Kirlia's evolved form, Gardevoir, holding a tray topped with six cups. Like Kirlia, Gardevoir walked on two legs and had a white and green theme to her. Only Gardevoir was taller, her lower half was resembled a ballgown, and her red horns were gone, instead replaced by red fins on her chest and back.

"Thank you Maddie, but you can just call me Terra," from the way Terra said it the argument of what she was to be called had gone on for quite some time. Maddie walked, though it appeared as if she floated, over and placed the cups in front of each person. Kirlia looked a little mad that she wasn't offered a drink but accepted the fact that the humans were getting served first.

_**I will call Master Shin in. He has been working nonstop since arriving. **_Maddie closed her eyes and while Ciro didn't hear the call he was sure that she was talking with this Shin guy.

It wasn't long until the dining room door opened to admit a man with shoulder-length spiky brown hair. He wore a grey shirt with a black jacket over it; he must not be feeling the heat of the day. His brown eyes fell on Terra and Priscilla causing a smile to appear on his face. Sitting at the head of the table, closest to Terra of course, he introduced himself to those he didn't know:

"Hello, I'm Shin," he said kindly.

After everyone introduced themselves and Maddie came back with a drink for Shin and some food for the Pokémon the adults started to talk about what it was like to move into a new neighborhood. Rin herself wasn't native to Clestia and knew the pains of starting up in a new region. You first had to get used to the different climate and make friends with people. Once you got that done you had to figure what the native Pokémon were and how they might interfere with your daily life. Neither Mika nor Rin asked about where they had come from, for they had no clue as to the reason that they had moved away and didn't want to chance bringing up bad memories.

While the four adults talked Iris and Priscilla kept going on about their Pokémon, Eve and Nimbus had leapt down to the ground to eat and were now sleeping against each other with full bellies. Frosty, Leafeon, and Umbreon all sat attentively next to their trainers but seemed to be relaxed. Kirlia, who had managed to get a drink of her own, sat next to Ciro sipping her tea. He didn't exactly mind just sitting there listening to the others converse but he did wish that he had something to do himself.

Thankfully for Ciro the conversation didn't last too long as Rin remembered that she still had to make all the Pokémon food for the day and that a few of the early rising Pokémon would start to wonder where their meal was. A hoard of hungry Pokémon wasn't a good way to start the day. With a good-bye to their new friends Ciro and his family headed back home to start the day. He wasn't sure but he had a good feeling about these new neighbors of his. It felt like a nice change of pace and that was what he needed right now.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

*8 months later*

Iris shot up in her bed with a grin on her face as her alarm clock buzzed. Eve looked around panicked that something had happened to cause Iris to move so quickly. Frosty on the other hand simply lifted her head up and glared at Iris with disdain. Hitting the OFF button on the clock silencing it Iris hopped out of bed, turned around, and lifted Eve into the air.

"It's my birthday Eve!" Iris proclaimed happily as she hugged her Eevee close. Setting a slightly confused, if not happy, Eve back on the bed Iris moved down to the bed and started scratching Frosty's head causing her to no longer glare at the red head. "Common Frosty. I'm sure Mom has something whipped up already. I turn fourteen today you know and Mother said that I should be getting an _important _gift today."

Changing into her normal outfit, red skirt and a white top, with speed that made a Speed Forme Deoxys look slow Iris headed downstairs. Eve and Glaceon looked at each other with confused looks on their faces before chasing after Iris. Coming to the stairs Iris had to put on the brakes as her Aunt Luna reached the top. Luna was a tall woman, only a few inches shorter than Mika, with long jet black hair that she let cascade down her back. Luna's pale skin only seemed palier when contrasted with her dark hair. She had on an ankle-length black skirt and crimson blouse. Attached to her right arm was a red PokéBrace, something that every Pokémon Trainer had. Her golden eyes went wide with shock as she thought her niece was about to crash into her.

Iris had stopped in enough time that she didn't cause the both of them to start tumbling down the stairs. Sadly the same could not be said for Eve and Frosty's stopping ability. First Eve's small form crashed into the back of Iris' knees causing her to lose balance so that when Frosty's larger form collided with them Iris had no choice but to fall forward due to the force. Unprepared for the avalanche of limbs wasn't able to hold her ground and started to fall backwards. Both humans and Pokémon were surrounded in a pink outline as they were psychically saved from painfully rolling down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs stood a pair of Kirlia both with eyes closed in concentration. The two Psychic Pokémon let the group down at the bottom of the stairs.

"Thanks Kirlia and Kirlia. Sorry Aunt Luna," Iris apologized before dashing off again. Nothing was going to stop her from heading to the kitchen to find her favorite breakfast, scrambled eggs with peanut butter and maple syrup waffles and a side of bacon. Sure enough as Iris slid into the kitchen her mom and Uncle Sol were finishing up the last plate of delicious food. Professor Solaris Adamas was a tall man standing at six foot eight inches. His short shaggy brown hair was in need of a combing. Gold colored eyes seemed to analyze everything around him as he went about setting tower of waffles. Many of the Pokémon that lived in the house had bowels of their own food and were already chowing down. The table was set for nine, seven humans and two Kirlias.

"Happy birthday sweetie," Rin said when she spotted her daughter. Never the neat cook Rin had flour on her apron and when she hugged Iris the birthday girl got a big ol' puff of flour. When she was released from her mom's hug some of Iris' hair was dyed white with ground grains.

"Hey Umbreon," Sol smiled as he looked at his sister's Pokémon. Umbreon was lying on the floor resting after a filling meal. "Would you mind waking Mika up?" If an Umbreon can grin evilly, then this one certainly did. Mika may be his partner but that didn't stop him from enjoying messing with her from time to time like it did to others.

"Be kind to your sister Sol. She's taking a well deserved break to be here for Iris' birthday," Rin sighed as she hung her apron up on a nearby hook. That group from eight months ago, the Gold Feather, had since started doing bigger crimes and that meant that Mika had started working even more than usual. Iris had overheard her parents talking on the phone the other day and Mika was getting really worried about what this group of criminals was up to. Today wasn't the day to worry about such things though.

A very tired looking Ciro came trudging into the kitchen in his PJs which were a pair of black sweat pants and and a faded blue t-shirt. With a large yawn he plopped down into his chair at the table and waited for the others. Iris hopped into her chair and had a stare down with the pile of waffles closest to her. Even though she wanted to start digging in right away she knew that her mom would yell if she tried eating before everyone made it to the table. Both Kirlias levitated up into their chairs and patiently waited for the rest of the household.

It wasn't long after Sol had sent Umbreon to wake up Mika that the entire downstairs heard her scream as she woke up. Iris wondered what Umbreon had done to cause her mother to wake up screaming but some questions were better left unasked. Fast paced footsteps could be heard as Mika presumably chased Umbreon around upstairs.

"Oy, Aunt Mika is at it already?" Ceres asked as she entered the room with her mother. Iris' other cousin and twin sister to Ciro, Ceres was had her father's dark brown hair but kept it long like her mother's. A few inches taller than her brother, enough that people thought there was an age difference between the two; Ceres looked more like her father than Ciro did. However, unlike her parents and brother Ceres' eye color was green, a gift from her grandmother that she loathed.

"It's your father's fault," Rin told her niece in defense of Mika. "He's the one that sent Umbreon after her."

"I'm just glad it wasn't Mother's Houndoom," Ceres replied as she took her spot between her Kirlia and Iris. "Last thing we need is Aunt Mika being burnt to a crisp this early in the morning."

"SOL-AR-IS!" Mika's voice shouted from up above. A series of footsteps descended the stairs and soon Mika appeared in the doorway. Her blonde hair was in a mess from sleep and for the most part she looked normal. That is if you ignored the black pawprints on her cheeks. Having cleaned those exact pawprints off the floor more than a few times Iris knew that they were put there by Umbreon. "I know it was you Brother! You sent Umbreon in to wake me up didn't you?!"

"I told him to wake you, not decorate your face." Sol was trying not to laugh at his sister. If she got any more mad she was likely to erupt like a Camerupt.

"How did he even?" Rin started before she just shook her head and went to get a paper towel to wipe off whatever it was that was on Mika's face.

"That's what I want to know! How did he get ink on his paws and manage to ONLY get pawprints on my face?!" Mika took the wet paper towel from Rin and rubbed the ink off her face dying the towel black as she did so. It took three paper towels to get the ink completely off. Umbreon came strutting into the kitchen and back to the spot he had been lying before Sol had disturbed him. Without looking at Mika he plopped back down and went back to his after meal nap. "You're getting payback one day Umbreon, count on it." Mika huffed and sat down at the table.

Now that everyone had gathered they were allowed to eat and Iris dug right in. For a little wisp of a girl she could pack it in, she needed fuel for her hyper activeness. As the meal wound down and there was only one waffle left in the middle of the table Ciro made the mistake of trying to take it. As his hand went for the sweet fluffy a fork appeared between the hand and food. Iris was standing up to reach far enough across the table but she was going to defend her waffle. Ciro, who had woken up enough by now, stared at his cousin. A tense air settled over the breakfast table as the two started their showdown. Ciro kept trying to get the waffle only to have Iris slam a fork in front of his hand over and over again. It didn't cross Iris' mind to simply _take _the waffle off the plate, it was too much fun to fight over it first. A few times Ciro got close to getting poked by the fork but he never made it the last remaining slice of food. Instead his own Kirlia stole it right from underneath the feuding teens. Both Iris and Ciro's mouth dropped in shock as their prize was stolen from them.

"That's what you two get for playing at the table," Rin scolded them both like they were little kids rather than teenagers. Both of them sat back in their chairs defeated by a hungry Psychic Pokémon.

Sad, and still feeling peckish, Iris got up from the table and headed into the living room with Eve and Frosty hot on her heels. She didn't know what her family had planned for her today but she was willing to bet that a party was going to be involved. Pris and her family were coming over today and that was all that she knew for certain. A few weeks ago Tina had come back home from her trip to collect the gym badges. She already had four badges but the season was over and the Clestia region had just ended witnessed the continuation of its champion's reign. So with no rush to collect another four badges within a year's time Tina had come home to rest her Pokémon. Pris had been over the moon to have her older sister back home, even Ciro seemed a bit more chipper since the return of Tina. Iris didn't have to be as smart as her Uncle Sol to figure out why, though Sol appeared to be completely oblivious to his son's interest in Tina. Thankfully the other adults in the house seemed to grasp what was going on.

Sitting down on the large couch Iris let Eve hop up onto her lap and Frosty climbed up to lay down next to Iris. With her two Pokémon sitting next to her Iris tried to find something on the television to entertain her until it was time to go and hang out with Pris. As one would expect there wasn't really much on at eight in the morning so Iris settled for watching reruns of the League battles. She tuned in to see a match of Dragonite against a Florges. Type-wise the Florges had the advantage but the Dragonite was holding its own using a few Earthquakes. Iris had seen the battle before and knew that the Dragonite lost because the Florges had surprised everyone with its Toxic.

"Chicchicchicchicchicchic!" Ceres' Torchic came scampering into the room and leapt onto the back of the couch to stare down at Frosty. Ceres and Ciro had accompanied their parents on a trip recently to meet with a visiting professor and Ceres had gotten the fire chicken from him. Ever since it had come to home it had seen Frosty as a rival and wanted nothing more than to fight the Ice Eeveelution. Pitty that even with the type advantage Torchic kept losing. Frosty was years older and had far more experience under its belt. Glancing up at the pest Frosty opened her mouth and let out a blast of cold wind, the weakest move that she knew, Icy Wind. Torchic's eyes turned into spirals as it fell off the back of the couch, one hit K. by a Icy Wind.

"Ceres should really keep a better eye on her Torchic," Iris said as she peeked over the couch to see if Torchic was alright. "Poor little guy is going to get himself hurt one of these days." While she did feel slightly sorry for the Torchic the feeling quickly passed. It was the one that kept asking to get blasted and knocked out. Sadly the Torchic was as hardheaded as his trainer and enjoyed pitting itself against stronger opponents.

Speak of the devil and so shall she appear. Ceres came in with her Kirlia not far behind her and she instantly spotted her fainted Torchic. Rushing over Ceres picked up her fallen Pokémon. Glaring daggers at Frosty, Ceres took her Torchic to her father's lab where they had a small machine to help treat injured Pokémon. Torchic spent more time than it should have in that machine. Iris watched Ceres depart and wondered why her cousin let her Torchic go around picking fights only to come in after the Chick Pokémon had fainted. It wasn't Frosty's fault that Torchic had disturbed them, it wouldn't have left until it got its fight. Besides, Frosty had more powerful moves than Icy Wind in her arsenal that could have frozen Torchic solid.

After she had killed enough time by watching T.V. and reading some of her newest book Iris looked at the clock and noticed that it was finally past ten. Two hours had successfully been wasted and now she was allowed to head over to Pris' house and hang out with her best friend until she was called back home.

Heading out the door Iris called out to her parents, wherever they were at, and told them that she was heading out. Waiting a few seconds Iris heard an "Okay" from her Aunt Luna and then she bolted out of the door. Not before ducking back in and grabbing her messenger bag off the hook on her way out. It held helpful things inside of it.

Pris was fun to hang out with. She was a little shy and downright ignorant of the advances the town boys made on her. Well the boys that weren't simply trying to use Pris to get to Tina. So Iris got to play bodyguard and sic Frosty on guys that got to forward with Pris and she had fun doing it. Her biggest problem with hanging out with Pris was the fact that all the boys paid attention to Pris rather than her. Just another reason to have Frosty use an Ice Beam or two to scare them off.

Today they had gotten permission to go and explore the forest surrounding the town so long as they took Shin's Haxorus, Rai, with them. The forest sported many small Pokémon such as Pidgey and Taillow but it also housed a few things like Trevenant and Zoroarks. Frosty and Nimbus were both pretty powerful but when a hoard of Trevenants gathered around even Frosty had problems without messing up the weather. Iris didn't mind a "chaperone" but she did mind that it was a huge ol' Haxorus. A Haxorus isn't exactly the smallest Pokémon out there and Rai was a tad fight happy. Okay "tad" was putting it mildly. He loved to fight and ever since Shin settled down he hadn't been getting enough action in his life.

Waiting in between the two fences around the yards was Pris, Nimbus, and Rai. Your normal Haxorus coloring was a yellow-green. But like his wife and daughter, Shin had a shiny Pokémon and Rai just happened to be that Pokémon. A shiny Haxorus was black-grey instead of yellow-green. Pris looked so small standing next to the six foot tall dinosaur. Yeah he's 5'11" (1.8m) but do you really want to split hairs over an inch with a Haxorus?

"Heya Pris!" Iris called out as she waved to her friend.

"Eev ve ve!" Eve called out as she bounded towards Pris. To be more precise Eve was heading towards Nimbus. Over the course of eight months not only had both girls gotten along but their Pokémon had become fast friends. Frosty was the eldest of the three Pokémon and she already looked out for Eve like a worried aunt. Now that Nimbus was added to the group Frosty felt she had another child to watch over. It really didn't help that Nimbus was a bit of a scaredy cat. Frosty didn't seem to mind having another body to look after though, in fact she seemed quite pleased with herself.

Nimbus fluttered down to meet with Eve and the two started conversing excitedly. Frosty approached and looked up at Rai carefully as if expecting the Dragon type Pokémon to start a fight. While not far from the truth even Rai wasn't going to start a fight with Pris and Iris standing right next to him. It simply wasn't worth the scolding he would get afterwards.

"So Pris," Iris said happily, "ready ta head on out and look for some rare Pokémon?" That was the big plan for the day until it was time to come back home at four o'clock. Rin had made sure to repeatedly remind Iris that she needed to be home at FOUR. Not only had Rin drilled it into her head she had also made Iris write it in her notebook. Many times Iris had forgotten important dates or the answer to a question she had already asked. So Rin had gotten her an electronic journal with a substantial amount of space on it for something that was supposed to be for writing only. It doubled as an alarm for any dates Iris wrote down in it. Alarms weren't the only extra feature that Sol had managed to add to the device for his favorite niece.

"Are there really rare Pokémon around here?" Pris asked a little hopeful that they would seem something different than the normal hustle and bustle of the forest. So far all there had been were highly common Bug Pokémon and Grass types that you would expect to find wandering the forest.

"No clue," Iris admitted with a grin. "That's half the fun though. We don't know if there is anything special in the forest or not! Think what it'd be like if we spotted a Shaymin!" Iris facepalmed as she remembered that Terra had a SHINY Shaymin. You really don't get more rare than that. "Or you know, a Celebi."

Pris giggled a bit at Iris for forgetting that she lived with a rare Pokémon. With others Pris would have been worried about hurting their feelings for laughing at their forgetfulness. Iris had made it very clear she didn't care if Pris laughed at her expense in fact Iris had enlisted Ciro's help in making herself look like a fool until Pris had no choice but to laugh. Pies to the face ARE funny, especially when the one getting hit can't stop laughing. That was Iris though, making people she deemed her friend happy. Iris deemed Pris her friend not long after the whole Venusaur incident.

"Do you have an idea of where you want to start looking?" Pris questioned though in the back of her mind she already knew the answer.

"Uh…" Iris pondered the question with a lot of thought like she had someplace that she wanted to go to but couldn't quite grasp it. Reaching into her bag Iris pulls out a small electronic device. It's about the length and width of a large book but almost as thin as a child's book. Tapping the screen that took up the majority of the surface the device woke up. It was Iris' notebook and she had already had the file for today opened up with the name of the river that she wanted to check out written in large blue letters with a Butterfree drawn next to it. "Oh! The Gray River. Uncle Sol wants me to check and see what kinds of Pokémon are living around it this time of year. It's so close to home though." Iris kept looking at a small map of the forest that she had on her notebook as if the river would suddenly move farther away and thus increase the fun it would take to get there.

"Well once we finish what your Uncle Solaris asked we can continue looking can't we?" Pris came and stood next to Iris looking down at the screen. Some might see it as an invasion of privacy but Iris was open with her friends and family, besides her more important files were password protected. Oddly she never had troubles remembering the password. There was a bunch of what could only be described as squiggles on the page. The stereotype that all girls had nice and neat handwriting did _not _hold true for Iris. You needed a translator to be able to read what was written. "Iris," Pris hesitated for a second, "I can't read this." It was the first time that Pris had seen Iris' horrid excuse for handwriting.

Iris laughed sheepishly and had the decency to look embarrassed. "Mom says I need to work on my penmanship. The notebook knows what I'm writing though and so do I. Who's gonna want to read my writing anyways?" Next to the two girls their over-the-top bodyguard started to get antsy. It was clear that Rai was getting bored with just standing there, he did enough of that at home and this was his chance to stretch his legs. "Good point Rai. We should get moving, we're burning daylight." Placing the device back into her bag Iris headed down between the fences expecting the others to follow after her.

Only taking a the few seconds required to get up the Pokémon followed after Iris with Rai sticking behind Pris _looking _the part of a bodyguard. Eve let herself be known when she reached Iris by swatting her tail against the girl's leg. Barely breaking stride Iris swooped Eve up and deposited the Eevee on her shoulder. Nimbus fluttered about in the open sky until they reached the edge of the woods where then she plopped down on Pris' head looking like a cotton cap once again.

The edge of the forest was really obvious. It was like someone had drawn a circle around the town that prevented any trees from crossing over. Even the undergrowth you find in a forest was perfectly right up to the edge. With a grin on her face Iris jumped over the invisible line and into the forest like it was the start of some big adventure. Frosty walked with her ears perked up as she listened to the noises around her. A small amount of frost appeared on the leaves around the Glaceon as she adjusted her temperature to deal with the warm are under the canopy. Pris and Rai walked in like you normally see people doing.

With Iris leading the way the group headed in the direction of the Gray River. It was a short walk from the edge of the forest like Iris had said. In the brief thirty minutes that it had taken to reach the river that they had been instructed to go and check they had spotted no Pokémon. Zip, zero, zadda. If she had bothered to think about it Iris would have wondered why there had been no Pokémon on the way to the river. Normally you could spot a Paras or two sleeping as you walked about. She was too wrapped up in getting to their destination to even notice that she hadn't seen a thing.

"Hey Iris, don't you think it's odd that we didn't see anything?" Pris asked as Iris knelt down by the water.

"What?" Iris was baffled by the question. "We saw something there was the… no. Oh there was a huge group, no wait, that was last time." Iris put a finger to her chin in thought as she tried to remember seeing any Pokémon but gave up after a few seconds. "Guess you're right Pris. Wonder why we haven't seen anything. This time of year there's normally a HUGE Pidgey/Caterpie war going on and the forest is much livelier."

"I'm not sure I'd like to see that." Pris said sadly as she thought about how many Caterpie were eaten by hungry Pidgeys each year.

"Frosty and my cousin's Kirlias come out each year and we help the Caterpie out a bit. The Pidgey really get greedy and if we didn't help out there'd be a few less Butterfrees in Clestia." Iris patted her Glaceon on the head in a proud manner. Then Iris looked like she had swallowed something really bitter. "Now that Ceres has Torchic she's going to want to pit him against the Pidgey."

Stopping any conversation in its tracks both Iris and Pris gasped as a small green fairy looking Pokémon flew in between the two of them. It had a round head that came to a curved point. Giant baby-blue eyes looked at them with wonder. The black rings around the eyes made them seem ever larger than they probably were. It was Celebi, the Time Travel Pokémon.

"OH M-" Iris started to shout in glee before Pris placed her hand over her friend's mouth to stop her from scaring the mythical Pokémon. Putting a single finger up to her lips Pris told her friend to be quiet. Iris nodded in agreement and Pris took her hand off of the red head's mouth. "We should follow." Iris whispered as softly as she could. No matter how quiet she was it couldn't stop the sheer amount of excitement she felt for seeing Celebi of all Pokémon from leaking into her voice causing it to go higher than normal.

Nodding her head in agreement Iris and Pris watched the Celebi dart back and forth through the trees as if it was looking for something. Sadly it didn't take long for Eve to notice the flying Psychic/Grass Pokémon. As curious as Iris is but without anything to hold it back Eve jumped down and ran off after Celebi. The lack of furry warmth on her shoulder was the only tell to Iris that Eve had jumped down. Instantly Iris stopped watching the Celebi and started looking for her little Eevee. She really shouldn't have taken her eyes off of Celebi as soon Eve was below the time traveler and jumping up trying to catch it. Take away the fact that Celebi might be scared by a leaping Eevee, the scene was cute. Thankfully Celebi didn't seem to notice that Eve was bouncing up and down beneath it.

"It's times like this I wish I put Eve in a Poké Ball," Iris muttered to herself. While Frosty had a Poké Ball to all her own, Eve had no such thing. By all accounts Eve was a wild Pokémon and anyone could capture her. Iris just couldn't bring herself to put Eve into a Poké Ball if even only for a little while. Frosty didn't seem to enjoy her's very much but would go in it for long travels.

Celebi seemed to be checking one tree quite thoroughly as soon hovered lower, low enough that Eve was able to finally catch one of its feet in her mouth. All of the sudden Celebi vanished and clinging to the tree at the same height Celebi had been at was a Zorua, Eve had bitten the Tricky Fox Pokémon's tail. Letting out a cry the Zorua retaliated by scratching at Eve with one of its front claws. The pain of the attack caused Eve to let go and fall back to the forest floor. Without thinking Iris ran over to Eve and picked up her Pokémon. Eve wasn't used to battles she was more of a pet than a battler.

Rai on the other hand seemed to sense the situation and was glad that there was something he could fight, even if it was a puny Zorua. Knowing that its foe wouldn't be fooled by an illusion the Zorua let out a long howl. Leaves rustled on their branches as a few somethings came through the trees at the call of the Zoura. Dropping down in front of Rai a pack of ten Zoroarks stood between him and the annoyed Zorua. The bipedal fox-like Pokémon had greyish-brown fur with crimson mane and black accents. Its snout and ears were both pointed and its red claws seemed like they were dyed with blood. None of the Zoroarks looked happy that their pre-evolved form had been attacked and even less pleased that a Haxorus had been going after it.

"Iris is Eve okay?!" Pris shouted at her friend who happened to be on the other side of the greyish furred wall. She was more worried about Eve than Iris thanks to Rai being there to deal with the Zoroarks.

"Yeah just a scratch really, I think she's more shocked at being attacked." Nevertheless Iris held Eve close to her as she stood up and looked at the pack of Zoroark in front of her. They looked pretty strong for a Pokémon that relied on illusions to avoid fights. But Zoroark was also a Pokémon that fiercely protected its own. "Pris, can Rai handle all of these guys?"

"Papa's trained Rai really well, he should be able to." There was a hint of pride in her voice at the prospect of her father's Pokémon being able to soundly beat ten Zoroark.

"I hope you're right." Iris said not entirely convinced. After all, all she had was Eve on her side of the pack.

**(A/N): **Here's a nice addition to my stories. I'll give you two Pokédex entries and you all try to guess who it is. The answer will be given in the next chapter. Those who guess in their reviews won't have to wait to see if they are right.

_**Who's That Pokémon?!**_

Entry 1: By controlling its body heat, it can freeze the atmosphere around it to make a diamond-dust flurry.

Entry 2: It causes small ice crystals to form by lowering the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere.


	4. Chapter 4

**(A/N): **So when your friend, The Unknowing Herald, keeps going on and on about Pokémon and you sit there and converse with him about it. Well it fuels your own Pokéfanism and causes you to keep updating your Pokémon fic even though all you want to do is write for something else. I blame Herald for this chapter, hell I blame him for this fic, and I have no regrets.

Also if anyone wants to exchange Friend Codes for the Safari on Pokémon X/Y just drop me a PM. I'm on the search for a Shiny Eevee and will gladly give Yevtal or Mewtwo holding his Y Mega Stone for it. Not sure what else I have to offer for one yet.

Chapter 4

Rai let out a roar as he charged straight for the first Zoroark. The Axe Jaw Pokémon slammed himself into the first Zoroark knocking it to the ground with sheer brute force. Still, Rai had nine other Zoroark to contend with and they weren't just going to sit back and let Rai take them out on by one. As a pack the ten Zoroark knew how to take down strong opponents and they were ready when Rai crossed his arms in an X shape. With his X-Scissor ready Rai went for another Zoroark only to be hit from the side by another's Night Slash. The glow that accompanied X-Scissor vanished as Rai's concentration was broken.

"Rai!" Pris called out as she watched her father's Pokémon stagger.

In retaliation to the attack Rai brought one foot up and slammed it down on the ground as hard as a Haxorus could. Years of practice allowed Rai to focus his Earthquake at the Zoroark so it wouldn't hit his allies. Four of the Zoroark were fast enough to take to the trees before they were knocked down by the powerful Ground move. The Zoroark that Rai had first knocked down had just been getting up and was sent back down by the Haxorus' attack.

Using their Agility the four hidden Zoroark came dashing out of the trees and slashed at Rai with their red claws. A four pronged assault left little room for Rai to counter and the fallen Zoroark were getting up ready to get back at Rai for that last attack. Doing his best Rai hopped back and forth dodging that sharp claws of Zoroark. Soon a blue aura appeared around Rai and the speed at which he danced about quickened. Rai had not only managed to dodge the attacks but had been able to perform Dragon Dance while doing it. This was the mark of a Pokémon that had seen _many _battles.

Two of the Zoroark rushed forward, their arms glowing purple as they approached Rai. Swinging around Rai was able to catch one of them with his tail, causing it to slam into a tree with enough force the tree now stood at an angle. However, the other Zoroark was able smack Rai across the face with its Punishment attack, a move that dealt more damage the more the target had powered itself up. Straight out of a Dragon Dance Rai was hit hard by this Dark move, not hard enough to do anything more than enrage the Dragon type Pokémon. Grabbing the offending Zoroark by the arm Rai threw him straight down at the ground knocking the Illusion Fox Pokémon out cold. With three of the pack down Rai still had seven to go and his strength was starting to fail.

Amidst the chaos of the battle Iris had been able to sneak past the fight with Eve in her arms. Now standing safely with Pris and Frosty the red haired girl could only watch in amazement as Rai continued to take down more of the Zoroark hoard. Able to get off an X-Scissor Rai had one-hit K.O. a Zoroark with the super effective move thinning the enemy numbers once again. The forgotten Zorua had stayed perched on its tree and now that it was witnessing the pack falling, it decided that it wanted to help out. Leaping from tree to tree the little Zorua tried to attack the two weaker targets, Iris and Pris. Frosty had seen the approaching grey fox and leapt into the air colliding with the Zorua. Anger radiated off of Frosty as she stared down the Zorua.

"Frosty hit it with an Ice Beam," Iris instructed. Happy to oblige Frosty opened her mouth and an orb of white-blue light gathered in her mouth. Within seconds the orb shot out a beam of freezing energy and turned the Zorua into an ice sculpture.

"Iris, can you have Frosty help Rai?" Pris asked. Nimbus was quivering atop Pris' head, its own head tucked underneath its wings hiding itself from the battle. A roar echoed through the forest as a red aura gathered around Rai. With glowing red eyes Rai punched a charging Zoroark square in the snout. Using one of the strongest Dragon moves, Outrage, Rai certainly didn't look like he needed help.

"If there's anything left after that," Iris commented as Rai's tail caught another Zoroark mid jump. It really seemed like the five remaining Zoroark were going to be beaten by Rai as he ran forth to grab another opponent and toss it into the air. There was a time crunch now though for if Rai didn't clear out the remaining Zoroark before the effects of Outrage wore off he'd be at a distinct disadvantage.

Everything was going fine until Rai got down to the last three Zoroark. Outrage still fueling him Rai lashed out with his claws and that proved to be a mistake. Ducking down the Zoroark dodged the attack and was able to get close to its target. A black aura surrounded Zoroark as it used Foul Play, turning Rai's own strength against him. It wasn't a well thought out plan though as when Rai fell down he was able to strike the Zoroark causing them both to faint upon hitting the ground.

"Well Frosty," Iris forced a laugh, "looks like you're up." She really hadn't expected Rai to lose to the remaining three Zoroark but it looked like he was down for the count and that left Frosty as the only real contender to finish off what the Axe Jaw Pokémon had started.

"Gla" Frosty said as she put herself between the two remaining Zoroark and her trainer. Frosty's chances weren't looking so good with it being two against one. Even having a few years under her belt, for the most part Frosty was a house pet that knew a few dangerous moves thanks to the power of technology being able to teach Pokémon moves.

"Start off with Barrier," Iris commanded. An icy blue bubble surrounded Frosty as she got ready to take down the opposing foxes. All of the Zoroark had used physical moves so Iris wanted Frosty to be as protected as she could be when fighting two against one.

"Nimbus?" Pris gasped as her Swablu landed next to Frosty. Both Pokémon shared a look before turning towards their foes. Scared as she was Nimbus wanted to protect Pris just as much as Frosty wanted to protect Iris. Closing her eyes Frosty extended the effects of Barrier over to Nimbus granting it some protection.

"Alright then," Iris grinned as the odds somewhat evened out. "We can't fight like Rai did and take them both on at once."

"We need to take out the one on the right, it's limping slightly," Pris pointed to the Zoroark's leg and there was a gash from one of Rai's. It certainly wasn't stopping the Illusion Fox from fighting but it did help out the girls.

"You heard her Frosty, let's hit it with an Ice Beam!" Pointing to the already injured Zoroark Iris felt like they had a good chance to win this fight. Obeying the command Frosty let out an Ice Beam directly at the limping foe. Even with an injured leg the Zoroark was able to dodge the Ice attack. Its companion launched an attack of its own with Night Slash against Frosty. Blue energy absorbed the brunt of the attack but there was still enough strength behind it to knock Frosty back a bit. Nimbus' beak glowed white as it started to Peck at the attacking Zoroark.

"Sing Nimbus!" Pris called out. Fluttering up to a tree branch out of reach Nimbus started to sing a soft lullaby. Zoroark's eyes started to close as it listened to the song Nimbus was singing with all of its little heart. As the grey fox started to lie down to sleep the injured Zoroark leapt up and took a swipe at Nimbus. Again Barrier helped take some of the attack but wasn't strong enough to stop the full strength of Zoroark. Without Nimbus still lulling it to sleep the tired Zoroark woke back up ready as ever to fight.

"I hope you don't mind a little cold Pris," Iris said to her friend. "Frosty, use Hail." A white glow surrounded the Glaceon as clouds started to appear overhead. A wind whipped up to accompany the grey clouds. Soon hail started to fall through the forest canopy, pelting the Pokémon and humans without mercy. Frosty's Snow Cloak ability kicked in and she vanished among the white hail. "Now Blizzard on the injured Zoroark!"

On cue the hail around the Zoroark with the gash on its leg started to swirl around it. It was an amazing sight as the hail caught the little light left and illuminated the Zoroark before the ice converged on it. Stepping out into the open Frosty stood there looking down on its fainted opponent with pride at its actions. However, Frosty was worse for the wear after using such a powerful move. Iris had used a Technical Machine to teach Frosty Blizzard and so the Fresh Snow Pokémon wasn't used to using so much energy at once. Drained of power she couldn't keep her Snow Cloak going and was wide open to the attack of the other Zoroark.

"Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay min!" A green orb of raw energy came flying through the trees and struck the last remaining Zoroark as it raised a claw to strike the weak Glaceon. The force of the Seed Flare sent the Illusion Fox into the air where it met with a much worse fate than any of its pack members. Out of the trees leapt a humanoid looking Pokémon with auburn hair done up in a bun that looked much like a stanza. A red jewel was set on the Pokémon's forehead, her equally red eyes were locked on the Zoroark. With arms like crotchets Pirouette Forme Meloetta used Close Combat to knock out any fight that the Zoroark might have had left in it.

Landing with grace like the dance she was, at least in Pirouette Forme, Meloetta looked up in the direction that she had sent her opponent flying. Clasping her hands together Meloetta looked quite pleased with herself, like she had set a new record or something. Mog, Terra's azure Shaymin, in Sky Forme landed next to Pris and looked up at the young girl. Iris knew that the two of them were having a conversation and whatever it was about Mog didn't want Iris to hear. Talking psychically with Pokémon was something that Iris wished she could do and since she couldn't do it, it annoyed her when others did. Even though she lived with two Kirlia and a Meloetta she didn't get much telepathy in her life.

_**~Iris~ **_The familiar tune of Meloetta's voice sung into Iris' mind. _**~Good thing your Mom sent me out when she did~**_Spinning around with a smile Meloetta checked each of the Zoroark that lie on the ground to make sure that they wouldn't be getting up anytime soon. _**~I saw little Moggy heading out into the woods and informed Rin. She decided that if Terra can send Mog then she could send me along. We knew you were in trouble when the sky got dark.~**_

"Mom," Iris hung her head and sighed. If it wasn't for that fact that Mog and Meloetta had just saved them both she would have been mad that the two legendary Pokémon had followed after them. Looking down at the now sleeping Eve Iris knew that she should be thankful that Mog and Meloetta had been there but she had wanted to see if she could have actually won on her own. Iris knew that Frosty was weak from its Blizzard and that Nimbus wasn't the strongest thing on the planet but it would have be nice to have been able to take down the two Zoroark without help from any parental Pokémon.

_**~Don't be so sad.~ **_Meloetta said guessing Iris' mood with ease. _**~You know that your Mom worries about you and that's why I'm here. She just wants to protect her little one for as long as she can and she knows she doesn't-~**_ Meloetta put her hand to her mouth as if would stop herself from talking. _**~Almost spilled the beans there. Rin wouldn't be too happy with me if I told you about **_**that**_**.~**_

"About what?" Iris questioned. On cue Iris' eyes welled up with tears as she looked into Meloetta's eyes. Blue and green eyes looked into red as Iris tried her best to get her Mom's Pokémon to fold and tell her what was going on, there was clearly something. Secrets were meant to be found out and Iris wasn't going to let Meloetta get away with hiding one from her.

"Iris," Pris's voice broke the contact between Iris and the Melody Pokémon. "I think we should head back to my house. Rai needs more attention than I can give him." Kneeling down next to Rai, Pris had her hands laid out on the Dragon type Pokémon. A white light was radiating from Pris' hands and into Rai. Pris was just sitting there like it was the world's most common thing to have white light emitting from your hands. Iris' mind exploded with questions as she stared at her best friend, mouth agape.

"Wha? How? You? Dragon? Light?" Iris kept trying to ask every question that was coming to her mind and wasn't able to get more than the first word out before the next question tried to come out. So many questions flew through her mind that Iris' hand started to twitch, wanting to write them all out. Pris didn't give Iris any attention as she concentrated on Rai. "PRIS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Iris blurted out finally able to get one of the questions to form. The volume with which Iris asked the question was enough that it caused Pris to flinch. Despite not knowing what was going on Iris wasn't afraid or even angry that Pris had hidden this ability from her, she just wanted to know what was going on. If anything Iris was excited that she had something new to pester her friend about.

"I'm healing Rai," Pris stated. Again she acted like this was an everyday occurrence and paid no mind to the twitching Iris. Unable to take that simple answer Iris ran over and knelt down next to Pris. Producing her notebook Iris' hands fumbled for the pen.

"How are you doing it?" Iris wrote down the question as she asked it aloud. Her handwriting was short scribbles that barely resembled letters to even Iris, that's how excited she was about this new discovery.

"Mama said that I supply energy for their immune system and that it stimulates healing," Pris answered but she didn't seem to grasp the full concept of the words. It was more like she was reciting what she had been told. Iris on the other hand, who grew up listening to Rin talk about how various chemicals interact with each other, was baffled that simple human energy could do such a thing.

"Terra knows about this?" Iris asked in shock as her hand subconsciously drifted over her notebook writing down Pris' answer and the next question. Then grasping the meaning of her own words Iris clarified. "By that I mean she knows enough about this to tell you about it?"

"Yes, Mama is the one that taught me how to use my powers. She's still better than I am right now but she says that one day I'll be better than she is." Pris lifted her hands off of Rai and the Axe Jaw Pokémon started to stir.

_**~I'd heard stories of humans having such power but I didn't expect to see it with my own eyes.~ **_Meloetta stood next to Rai and looked at the now slightly less hurt Dragon type.

_**Yup. Terra and Princess are pretty special. **_Mog chimed in adding his two cents to the mix. Princess was his little nickname for Pris, it spoke volumes about how much the Gratitude Pokémon cared for her.

_**~Quiet Moggy. Iris has more questions no doubt and I for one would like to hear the answers.~ **_Meloetta sat down and waited for Iris to continue her questioning. Mog huffed knowing that he was being insulted by being called Moggy. He hopped over to Pris who now had Nimbus in her hands and was healing the shiny Swablu.

Obliging Meloetta Iris asked another question that was at the forefront of her mind. "So, do Keffy and Tina have powers to? Is it hereditary? Can your dad do anything cool or is it all on your mom's side of the family? Ohohohoh, can you do more than heal?" She had only meant to ask one of them but the rest came flowing out of her. The dam that normally filtered the questions had broken and the full curiosity of Iris was unleashed on Pris.

The look on Pris' face was priceless as she tried to form answers to her friend's questions. Her impatience had cause Iris to blurt her assault with rapid fire speed which meant that it took Pris a bit to even be able to separate one question from the next. Once she had them all sorted out Pris was overwhelmed by the shear amount that Iris had been able to get out in a manner of seconds. She had known her friend was as curious as a Meowth but she hadn't ever been on the receiving end quite like this.

"I. Uh. Well." Pris did her best to try and answer Iris but the look on the later face was a tad unnerving. Big round pleading eyes that at the same time seemed to glare at you, daring you to lie. Iris would make a great interrogator one day should she put her mind to it. In fact Mika had taught Iris a few tricks of the trade in hopes that her daughter would follow in her footsteps.

"Pris," Iris said pleadingly, "do you think you can help Eve?" Holding out the now sleeping Evolution Pokémon Iris gave Pris a way out from underneath the weight of the previous questions by offering her one that she could easily answer. Iris knew that she would have to wait to get her answers out of Pris or maybe Terra when they got back to the Verus household.

"Sure," Pris answered taking Eve without a second thought. Within seconds Eve was awake and licking Pris' hand in thanks for the healing. Handing the adorable Eevee back to her owner Pris looked at Rai who was still lying down on the ground. "We really should get Rai back home now."

"Please tell me you have his Poké Ball with you. I'm NOT carrying that giant lug back to your house. We'd get like nine steps before the lard butt would squish us." Iris made her way over and pretended to try and lift Rai to further her point.

"Don't worry, Papa gave me his Poké Ball in case he got out of control." Pris reached into a small pouch she had attached to the belt on her dress. Taking out the familiar red and white Poké Ball Pris clicked the button causing it to grow to the normal size. Pointing it at Rai a red beam shot out and hit Rai turning him into energy before sucking him back into his Poké Ball.

"Meloetta, tell Mom that I'm over at Pris' and that I'm fine." Iris went over to Frosty and checked the Glaceon over to see if she had taken too much damage to continue. As Iris' hand touched the soft blue fur Frosty stood up and licked Iris on the face teasingly. Frosty had been lying there waiting for Iris to come and assess the damage. "Sorry I didn't come sooner Frosty," Iris apologized as her oldest Pokémon nuzzled against her.

_**Come on you two I know a quick way out of here. **_Mog told them both as he floated in front of them and headed in the direction of the town. Following after the Sky Shaymin the two girls and their Pokémon headed back to town, their adventure halted before it even had really begun.

-o-O-o-

"Mama I'm home," Pris called out as she opened the door. Iris followed in after her the ever present Frosty right at her heels. The house was practically a ghost town is was so quiet inside. They hadn't seen anyone other than the Wailord, Tsunami, in the small lake behind the house. Such an absence of sound from the house was astonishing. Trying to keep the house, let alone the yard, quiet was practically impossible and yet here was the impossible. As the small group of girls wandered the house they were severely creeped out by the lack of people and Pokémon.

"Uh Pris, where do you think they all went?" Iris asked aloud the question they were both thinking. As she voiced the question Iris felt a chill run down her spine and it had nothing to do with Frosty. Turning around Iris hoped to all anything that there was something behind that she could yell at. All she found though when she turned around was nothing but air. "I'm so glad it's day still."

"Why?" Pris questioned. She hadn't felt a thing and it was obvious by how calm she was.

"It'd be the perfect setting for ghosts! Too many Ghost Pokémon are known for spiriting people off." Iris had slowly moved to stand behind Pris as they walked down the hall to Shin and Terra's room in hopes that one of them was there. Suddenly all the doors in the hallway slammed opened causing Iris to jump. Papers, clothes, a bajillion stuffed animals all came flying out of the room and started pelting the two girls. Eve and Frosty both started to growl at whatever was causing the storm to happen.

"I-I-I se-see w-w-w-what you m-m-m-mean," Pris stuttered as she too realized that something was going on in her house. "Mog, where'd you go?" Both Iris and Pris looked around for the Sky Forme Shaymin and found nothing but fallen papers and such that sudden storm had left behind.

"Was he here a second ago?" Iris asked not sure if Mog actually had accompanied them into the house or not. Pris didn't have time to answer though as a floating sword, and no it wasn't Honedge, came up the stairs behind them. "I think we have more important things to worry about Pris." Iris grabbed Pris by the shoulders and pointed her in the direction of the sword, which now had a few floating buddies.

"Where did those even come from, we don't have swords in the house!?" Pris shouted before the cluster of sharp steel came flying down the hall at the two girls.

"Who cares?!" Iris yelped as she took Pris' hand and led her into the nearest room, Tina's. It was messy but that wasn't necessarily because of the magical typhoon that had just blown through. What remained of the room were the posters on the wall that showcased the world's current champions from each of the different regions. One poster was barely hanging on the wall, the faces of the people had black marker scribbled over the top of them so Iris couldn't tell who they were.

The door squeaked shut behind them as they had taken a brief look around the room. A small breeze went about the room stirring some of the objects that had fallen to the ground. What could only be described as a small whirlwind settled outside of Tina's closet door. Slowly, like it was revealing an important secret, the door swung open. Inside was the girliest thing that either Iris or Pris had seen in Tina's possession. It was a large walk in closet sized room of nothing but Pokémon Dolls. Both girls barely had time to appreciate the vast collection the dolls started flying off the shelf pelting them as they stood there in awe.

Soon buried deep under a mound of fluffy Pokémon Dolls the group burst out of top with Pris holding a specific doll in her hand. It was a Diancie doll, high levels of rarity. Tucking the doll under her arm Pris tired her best to get out of the pile of soft cuddly things. It would have been safer had they stayed under the dolls. Hovering above Iris and Pris were dresser drawers filled with Tina's clothes. Turning over and spilling their contents the two teenage girls were soon covered in Tina's unmentionables.

"Jeezaloo what size is your sister?!" Iris gasped as she tossed one of Tina's bras down to the floor.

"Let's get out of here before anything else happens," Pris suggested completely ignoring Iris' question. Laughter echoed in the room as Iris' shadow moved up the wall even though no new light source was introduced into the room.

"I should have known," Iris deadpanned as she glared at the wall with blatant fury. From out of the shadow came one of her mother's Pokémon, Gengar. From up out of the floor came a purple pointed hat that led down into another laughing face, Mismagius. "You two are SO dead when I get home!" Iris shouted at her mother's Pokémon. Together the Gengar and Mismagius melted into the wall heading back to Mika, their job well and done. "Common Pris, we're going to my place to have a word with Mother and get Rai healed." Even though she had just been scared witless Iris hadn't forgotten the reason they had headed to Pris' house in the first place.

"But why would they do something like that?" Pris wondered aloud as she followed Iris out of the door.

"Gengar does it for kicks, there's a good reason I'm afraid of Ghost Pokémon and why he's not allowed in the house anymore." Iris shivered as she remembered all the times that Gengar had come into her room at night knocking stuff over causing her to wake up to a pair of floating glowing red eye. So many nightmares about those floating red eyes and the creepy laugh that Gengar had. "Mismagius probably did it to relieve boredom. She's a fighter with a mean prankster streak in her. If she's not battling then she's messing with people unless Mother's around. I have a funny feeling they were acting on orders though."

Iris was a girl on a mission and the way she walked got this point across. Her back was straight and her gait was purposeful. Her two colored eyes were burning with rage and she had an aura about her that told everyone to get out of her way. As she headed past the fence of the Verus house and towards her house Iris was ready to march on in and find her mother's Pokémon, if not Mika herself, and let them know just how bad that was. The fact that the entire Verus house had been void of anyone, save for Tsunami, made it apparent that the scare had been planned. Eve tried to mimic Iris and look menacing but an Eevee trying to look mad was nothing short of adorable as Eve failed horribly at doing it. Approaching the door of her house Iris found a note taped to it.

_Iris, please come to section 4:C of the yard. _

_Bring Priscilla with you_

That was the water habitat the Cloyster lived in. The lake that the Water/Ice Pokémon had to itself was large enough to fit three Wailords. Grumbling because she was still mad at Gengar and Mismagius Iris tore off the note and motioned for Pris to follow after her. The both headed through the house to the backyard and Iris checked the small map to make sure that she had her directions right before heading out to Cloyster's lake.

Silence filled the air as they walked through the grassy field. Nimbus didn't let out so much as a chirp, she could sense the mood and didn't want to get on the red haired girl's bad side. The section they were heading to wasn't far away from the house thankfully and they could soon see a group of people in the distance. That wasn't all they saw though as large poles with streamers strung in between them lined the area and multiple tables were set up lined with food. Of course the Pokémon from both families were mixed in among the people, even Tsunami had somehow managed to appear in the lake. There was a large banner strung up that read:

_Happy 14th Iris_

"Happy birthday Iris," Pris told her friend as she gestured to the apparent party.

"You were in on this weren't you?" Iris asked as she calmed down. "You knew that they were all over here and that Gengar and Mismagius were the two causing us problems."

"I knew they were over here," Pris admitted, "but I honestly didn't know about the two Ghost Pokémon being at my house. I was supposed to show you the new move that Gooey learned. She worked really hard to have it done in time." There was a hint of sadness in Pris' voice, she had really trained with Gooey, the Goomy, and wanted to show off the efforts of their work.

"Well Gooey is here isn't she? You can have her show me after I have a word with Mother," Iris assured Pris.

_**Who's That Pokémon! **_

Round 1 answer: Glaceon

Round 2

Entry 1: The claws tipping its arms pack the destructive power to tear through thick iron sheets as if they were silk. It flies at over 60 miles per hour.

Entry 2: When two _ fuse together, a magnetic nervous system places their brains in union.

The blank is the previous evolution to this Pokémon.


End file.
